KTAI 91.1 will compete against college radio stations globally

The second Annual College Radio Day will be at the J.K. Northway Coliseum in conjunction with National Night Out, today, Oct. 2, 2012.

KTAI-FM 91.1, Texas A&M University-Kingsville’s student-operaed radio station, has been working for several months organizing this event along side the Kleberg County Sheriff’s Office, promotions manager Danny Carranza said.

“This year National Night Out and College Radio Day landed on the same day,” Carranza said. “We came to the conclusion that, rather than compete with the Kleberg County Sheriff’s Office, we could create a bigger, better event for the community if we came together.”

The event is free and open to the public.

“Organizations from TAMUK as well from the community are helping out,” Carranza said. “There will be live music and lots of foods and prizes.”

KTAI-FM will also be participating in the College Radio Day 24-hour Global Marathon, which will be broadcast on a special channel on TuneIn Radio’s website and mobile app.

KTAI-FM is one of only two radio stations from the United States participating in the marathon.

The other station is WPSC-FM from William Paterson University in New Jersey.

“There will be 17 stations from 10 countries around the world in the marathon,”KTAI-FM program director Rami Garza said. “KTAI-FM will be spotlighted from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. [today.]”

KTAI-FM’s programming will also reflect the spirit of College Radio Day by airing some of WPSC-FM’s programming and a special College Radio Day documentary at 5 p.m. before the event at J.K. Northway Coliseum begins at 6 p.m.

This year’s entertainment includes country artist Beau Walker and tejano group Pio Trevino y Majic.

KTAI-FM was selected by mtvU to host this week’s College Radio Countdown.

“We won the Spirit of College Radio Day award last year, so mtvU picked us to host this week on College Radio Day,” Garza said.

College Radio Countdown can be seen online at mtvU.com and the mtvU channel.

Garza said that by joining with the Kleberg County Sheriff’s Office, KTAI-FM is able to bring even more awareness to college radio stations and their importance.

“Campuses and students don’t realize the importance of college radio, we provide information that is beneficial to them,” Garza said. “College radio stations are not in it for the money, they are in it for the exposure.”